A state House candidate believes that the Catawba County commissioners should remove a downtown Confederate monument from county property.
House District 89 Democratic Greg Cranford believed that the commissioners are straying from their Republican Party roots because they let the monument to remain in Newton.
“Your Republican Party founders would be very disappointed that the current Republicans in Catawba County allow a monument to be maintained on a public property that glorifies soldiers that fought against the objectives of your great Republican Party,” Cranford said at a county meeting, the Hickory Daily Record reported on Oct. 11.
Cranford is a member of the Catawba County Truth and Reconciliation Committee. It is a citizens-based group striving to have the monument removed.
“Please commissioners, I ask that you affirm allegiance to the origins of your great political party that abolished slavery in Catawba County,” Cranford said, the Hickory Daily Record reported. “… True Republicans would enthusiastically advocate for the removal of the monument from courthouse grounds.”
